Conventional methods of fitting and setting a car audio into a vehicular audio mounting hole have entailed the use of mounting strips which are attached beforehand to both right and left side faces of the car audio. When the car audio is fitted into the audio mounting hole, the mounting strips are brought into engagement with the audio mounting hole, and the car audio is positioned and fixed into the audio mounting hole.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a car audio in relation to an audio mounting hole formed in a vehicle, with a conventional car audio mounting device being attached to the car, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the car audio shown in FIG. 1. In these figures, the reference numeral 1A denotes an instrument panel of a vehicle (automobile), numeral 1B denotes a steering handle, numeral 1 denotes a rectangular audio mounting hole formed in the instrument panel 1A, and numeral 2 denotes a car audio to be fitted and set into the audio mounting hole 1. The car audio 2 is constituted by a combination of a chassis 2A in the shape of an open top type case and a chassis 2C for covering the chassis 2A from above, the chassis 2A having an operating panel 2B as a front panel. The chassis 2A and 2C are formed by thin metallic plates.
Numeral 3 denotes a convex lug formed plurally on the front upper portion of the cover chassis 2C. Likewise, downwardly convex lugs 3 (see FIG. 4 to be referred to later) are formed on the front lower portion of the case-like chassis 2A.
Numeral 4 denotes a car audio mounting member (hereinafter referred to also as "mounting device body") attached and fixed in face-to-face contact to the front portion of both the right and left side faces of the car audio 1. Numeral 5 denotes a bolt which tightens and fixes the mounting device body 4 to the car audio 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates the car audio mounting device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which (a) is a side view, (b) is a front end view of (a), and (c) is a top view of (a).
In FIG. 3, the numeral 4 denotes a plate-like mounting device body constituted by a rigid metallic plate such as a stainless steel plate; numeral 6 denotes a bent front-end engaging piece formed by bending the front end of the mounting device body 4 in a direction perpendicular thereto; numeral 7 denotes two elastically deformable cut-in pieces formed by cutting in the web portion of the mounting device body 4; numeral 8 denotes an engaging pawl formed by bending the front end of the cut-in piece 7, the engaging pawl 8 projecting in the same direction as the direction of the bend of the bent front-end engaging piece 6; and numeral 9 denotes a bolt insertion hole formed in the mounting device body 4.
FIG. 4 is a side view in vertical section of the car audio as loaded into the audio mounting hole shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a plan view in cross section of FIG. 4. In these figures, the audio mounting hole 1 comprises an outer large-diameter opening 1a and an inner small-diameter opening 1b.
The operation will now be explained.
First, two mounting device bodies 4 formed as above are tightened and fixed with bolts 5 to both side faces of the chassis 2A of the car audio 2 so that the respective bent front-end engaging pieces 6 face outward.
When the car audio 2, with two mounting device bodies 4 thus fixed to both sides thereof, is fitted in the vehicular audio mounting hole 1, the side in the direction of insertion of the bent front-end engaging pieces 6 of the mounting device bodies 4 comes into abutment with the stepped front walls of the small-diameter opening 1b of the audio mounting hole 1, as shown in FIG. 5, whereupon the front ends of the bent front-end engaging pieces 6 are held in an abutted state against the right and left inner wall surfaces of the 1a large-diameter opening 1a of the audio mounting hole 1. At the same time, the engaging pawls 8 of the mounting device bodies 4 come into engagement with inner opening ends of the small-diameter opening 1b of the audio mounting hole 1. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper and lower lugs 3 of the car audio 2 abut and match the upper and lower inner wall surfaces of the small-diameter opening 1b of the audio mounting hole 1.
Therefore, when the car audio 2 is fitted into the audio mounting hole 1, the front ends of the bent front-end engaging pieces 6 of the mounting device bodies 4 come into abutment with the right and left inner wall surfaces of the large-diameter opening 1a of the audio mounting hole 1, and thus the bent front-end engaging pieces 6 function as transverse positioning mechanisms which inhibit transverse movements of the car audio 2. The convex lugs 3 formed on the upper and lower chassis 2C, 2A of the car audio 2 come into abutment with the upper and lower inner wall surfaces of the small-diameter opening 1b of the audio mounting hole 1, thus the convex lugs 3 function as vertical positioning mechanisms which inhibit vertical movements of the car audio 2. Further, the engaging pawls 8 of the mounting device bodies 4 are engaged with inner opening ends of the small-diameter opening 1b of the audio mounting hole 1, so that the engaging pawls 8 function as inward positioning mechanisms which inhibit an inward movement of the car audio 2.
Since the conventional car audio mounting device is constructed as above, it is possible to satisfactorily effect positioning and fixing in the transverse direction of the car audio 2 by the bent front-end engaging pieces 6 of the mounting device bodies 1. Positioning and fixing in the inward direction of the car audio is effected by the engaging pawls 8 of the mounting device bodies 1. However, the problem has arisen that the positioning and fixing of the car audio 3 in the vertical direction by the lugs 3 formed on the chassis 2A and 2C of the car audio 2 are insufficiently strong. In more particular terms, since the chassis of the car audio 2 comprises separate, upper and lower chassis 2A, 2C and especially since the chassis 2C, serving as a cover member, is formed by a thin metallic plate, the chassis 2C is deflected easily and hence an error in the vertical direction is apt to occur at the time of mounting the car audio 2 relative to the audio mounting hole 1. That is to say, it is difficult to obtain vertical dimensional accuracy in mounting the car audio.
Moreover, since the convex lugs 3 are formed on the chassis 2C, it is necessary to design such lugs 3 for each type of audio system and therefore the freedom as regards design is reduced.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an auxiliary mounting device in relation to the car audio and the vehicular audio mounting hole, the auxiliary mounting device being used in combination with the conventional audio mounting device described above. FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the car audio shown in FIG. 6 as loaded into the vehicular audio mounting hole. In these figures, the numeral 10 denotes an auxiliary mounting device which is in the shape of a rectangular frame being fitted on the outside of the car audio 2, and numeral 11 denotes a convex lug formed plurally on both upper and lower surfaces of the auxiliary mounting device 10. The lugs 11 substitute the lugs 3 of the chassis 2A and 2C shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. Numeral 12 denotes a window hole formed in both side walls of the auxiliary mounting device 10. The window holes 12 are for allowing the engaging pawls 8 of the mounting device bodies 4 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 to project therethrough. In FIGS. 6 and 7, identical components to those shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 are identified by like reference numerals.
The operation will now be explained.
Firstly, the auxiliary mounting device 10, which is different from the mounting device bodies 4 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, is fitted on a car audio 2 with the mounting device bodies 4 attached on both sides thereto, and the engaging pawls 8 of the mounting device bodies 4 are allowed to project from the window holes 12 of the auxiliary mounting device 10 to fix the auxiliary mounting device 10 beforehand to the car audio 2.
Thus, by inserting the car audio 2 with both mounting device bodies 4 and auxiliary mounting device 10 attached thereto into the vehicular audio mounting hole 1, the car audio 2 is positioned and fixed in both transverse and inward directions by the mounting device bodies 4 in the same manner as that mentioned in connection with FIGS. 1 to 5. At the same time, the upper and lower lugs 11 of the auxiliary mounting device 10 come into pressure contact with the upper and lower inner wall surfaces of the audio mounting hole 1, so that the car audio 2 is positioned and fixed in the vertical direction by the auxiliary mounting device 10.
The conventional auxiliary car audio mounting device, which is constructed as above, is a separate component of a different type, for example different in shape, from the mounting device bodies 4 attached to both sides of the car audio 2, thus giving rise to the problem that the number of components used increases, the car audio mounting operation requires more labor and time, and the cost increases.
The present invention is proposed for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problem. It is an object of the invention to provide a car audio mounting device capable of positioning and fixing a car audio into a vehicular audio mounting hole, the device having sufficient strength in the vertical direction and using only one kind of component.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a car audio mounting device easy to mold and capable of attaining a reduction in costs.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a car audio mounting device capable of being easily inserted into a vehicular audio mounting hole together with a car audio while affording a sufficient positioning strength after the insertion.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a car audio mounting device applicable to different audio systems through the use of only one kind of component, hence allowing greater design freedom.